Jewelry in “Sex and the City 2”

June 7, 2010byCynthia Sliwa

Pay no attention to the detractors. If you’ve come to know and love the characters from the HBO series and the movie “Sex and the City,” you will thoroughly enjoy the romp of a movie that is “Sex and the City 2.” To me, it felt like visiting with old friends. At the wedding scene near the beginning of the movie, when the camera panned to Carrie’s friends all dolled up and standing together in a welcoming group, it brought to my mind similar reunions at all manner of events over my lifetime. I expect many viewers will experience the same sense of familiarity.

The SATC franchise has been a source of style inspiration for millions of women, and this movie too no doubt will prove to be influential in matters of fashion and personal adornment. There’s an abundance and a delightful variety of jewelry, as well as a wide range of jewelry designers represented in the film but uncredited, providing an opportunity for fashionistas and other jewelry savvy viewers to play “guess the designer.” Several designers have gotten the word out that their designs were featured in the film; I hope that more of them will follow suit.

Significant for jewelers, jewelry designers and jewelry lovers everywhere is that the movie incorporates several significant plot lines that carry universal messages about jewelry:

Message #1: There’s no more romantic gift than jewelry. For their second wedding anniversary, Carrie gives Big a vintage Rolex watch inscribed with words uttered at their wedding taken from a love letter by Beethoven. When Big gives Carrie in turn a television as his anniversary gift to her, she pointedly tells him that she’d rather he’d have bought her jewelry. Jewelry helps keep the romance in a relationship.

Message #2: The shared love of jewelry creates opportunity for cross-cultural communications. It’s the subject which prompts a woman in expensively embroidered but modest Muslim dress in Abu Dhabi to communicate across the room at lunch that she likes Carrie’s chunky statement necklace. Jewelry is an ice-breaker; it speaks across cultures.

Illustration: The famous black diamond ring by Itay Malkin.

Message #3: By now, no doubt you know that Big gives Carrie a black diamond solitaire ring in the film, explaining that he chose the unusual ring for her because there’s no one like her. Not only was the black diamond unusual, it also was a particularly thoughtful choice for Carrie. The black stone makes the ring relatively understated, perfect for Carrie who, throughout the SATC series, never wore jewelry that drew attention to her hands (unlike Samantha, for example, who accessorizes her chunky cocktail rings with metallic gold on her fingernails). One-of-a-kind is an appealing message to every woman, because every woman is one of a kind. Jewelry celebrates the uniqueness of the person it adorns.

On a more basic level, what would a fashion-focused fantasy chick-flick be without magnificent jewelry? See the film, take it all in, and enjoy!